Musical Selection

By Adam Abdelaziz Rats, rats, rats, Everywhere you looked, you saw rats! Rats on the doormats, Rats on the bathmats, Rats so giant they scared tomcats. Then one day came a man, Who said he could help us, who said he had a plan, Dressed in green, blue, and red, with a pipe in hand, …

Touchstone and Other Poems

By Stephen Kingsnorth Touchstone My hero’s nature seen in the field, landscape laid for bloom and seed, words worth reading, learning creed, where heart buried, under ground. Hearts unaware, sink, daffodils - thought gaudy, banded, bucket bunch, an Easter easy, child-mind bribe - this crowded host without a guide, no manual, dead heading, scythe, flow …

Resurrection and Other Poems

By Stephen Kingsnorth Resurrection I hear praise, awe the redwoods win, and oaks, withstood near battle scars, but my gem, acorn, palmed, admired, a prospect stored, squirrel ignored. I see them bury, gnaw, forget, a sapling fighting undergrowth, then filtered light through canopy calls for the greenman cambium. And it finds how to rise again, …

Passing and Other Poems

By Stephen Kingsnorth Passing How quickly turns that silken purse - as though sow’s ear is taking space, hears jealousy, lost in revenge - but dew has dried, curl edges bruised, and secateurs deadhead at speed, already eager for rebirth. From best of blooms that nodding spreads, as if in shame, taut stretch neck drapes, …

Follow the Foot and Other Poems

By Ken Gosse Follow the Foot an ekphrastic poem about an accidental selfie of my foot Whose toes are those which I suppose will tread the tread where each step rose beneath the carpet on each stair, well-worn although not yet thread-bare? The foot itself shows signs of age while still demanding to engage its …

A Little Rowboat and Other Poems

By Louis Efron Little Rowboat Afloat on still, open waters Carriage over an abyss Sun drawing its last breath Biting gale tunnels looming showers A murky cotton blanket rolls across the sky With deliberate strokes I swing the oars Searching for shore, any shore Another lonely night Without lullaby Without guiding light Lids heavy with …

A Slippery Rope and Other Poems

By Michael Neville A Slippery Rope I feel inside there ain’t no hope… I’m holding on to a slippery rope… I write the words, I sing the song… Everything that can has gone wrong… Nothing that I’ve touched has turned to gold… Look at me now I’m just growing old… Look at me now take …

Five Micro Poems

By Tabassum Tahmina Shagufta Hussein I. My tears evaporated Into the air. And follows you everywhere, As a Shadow companion. II. My wish is floating aimlessly, Like a kite, Without a destination, To be loved To be taken ground, On the the ground, But only to be lost In the limitless sky, Never to be …

Mourning / Morning and Petal’d Memories

By Mike Turner Mourning / Memories Sad in fits and starts Nursing broken hearts Gaping holes that will not soon be filled Lonely days and nights More wrong than is right Rivers of our tears that have been spilled Slowly we emerge From dark mourning and grief Warm in golden sunrise Sensing there’s relief In …

The Labouring Flower

By Anthony Ward Snowdrops droop Steeped in sentiment Like perched memories Appearing forlorn and frail Wearing winters fleece Blending with their harsh climate They could be so easily trampled Yet stand resilient Braced against brute force Slugging it against the odds Hardy and robust Modestly opposed to the bountiful beauty Of springs bloom Bearing just …